Arrest no big deal

The news of Santonio Holmes' arrest led the 6 p.m. broadcast of at least one local TV station Saturday. It was on the front sports page of the O-R.

Why?

Holmes' arrest for disorderly conduct is newsworthy only because he was the Steelers' No. 1 draft pick. He was released that night and will likely only have to pay a fine.

You have to realize that there are probably 100 people arrested for DC on Miami's South Beach every weekend. Considering Holmes was released, he couldn't have been causing that much trouble.

Some will point to this and equate it to Plaxico Burress' arrest in Virginia for having an open can of beer on the street. Again, what's the big deal?

These arrests were noteworthy only because of who they happened to, not because of what was done.

Neither speaks to any character flaw.

Looking on from above

Watching the voluntary coaching sessions this week, one can't help but look at the Steelers as an improved team.

Why?

First and foremost, quarterback Ben Roethlisberger seems to be his old self again.

The thumb injury that Roethlisberger played with last season is now completely healed and the Steelers' QB is regularly unleashing balls in practice that travel 65 yards through the air. His out patterns have more zip on them and he's no longer side-arming the ball to get it where he wants to throw it.

Roethlisberger has been nothing short of impressive.

And it doesn't matter whom he's throwing the ball to, either.

Hines Ward was in Washington, D.C., Wednesday meeting with the president about children in North Korea. That left Nate Washington and Cedric Wilson as the starting wideouts.

Roethlisberger still zipped pass after pass to them, threading the ball into coverage with no problem.

Bengals taking boneheads

In the most recent Sporting News, NFL writer Dan Pompei polled an unnamed NFL general manager about players his team had taken off its draft board because of character issues.

Of the players that general manager's team had taken off its draft board, the Cincinnati Bengals had selected seven of them.

That's a disturbing trend for Bengals' head coach Marvin Lewis.

But the Bengals seem intent on collecting as many bad character guys as they can, including taking three such players in this year's draft,

Given the problems they've had with wide receiver Chris Henry, who seems to get arrested for something once every two or three months, it's surprising Lewis took defensive end Frostee Rucker, linebacker A.J. Nicholson and wide receiver Reggie McNeal in this year's draft.

After getting burned by bad character guys in the late '80s, the Steelers have made a concerted effort to rid themselves of those types. As a result, they've had very few embarassing moments in the past 10 years or so.

That's not to say Cincinnati can't win with the bad guys. But are the headaches they cause really worth it?

Minicamp opens

A few random thoughts from the opening of minicamp today:

Santonio Holmes looks like the real deal. On the second play of team drills, he blew past Ike Taylor on a fly pattern and was settling under a long pass from Ben Roethlisberger when Taylor reached out and grabbed Holmes' jersey. It would have been about a 40-yard penalty in a game. He looks smooth in and out of his cuts as well.

Omar Jacobs has some work to do before he's ready to be an NFL passer. Jacobs stuggles coming out from under center and fumbled a couple of snaps. His passes also tended to come in low no matter where he threw the ball.

In a typical Bill Cowher move, Tyrone Carter opened camp as the No. 1 free safety. It won't be long before Ryan Clark replaces him, though.

Slow ride

With the NFL draft behind us, there hasn't been a lot of NFL news lately. This is the time of year that those of us who cover the league take a little time off.

The coaches and teams do as well.

But the Steelers will open their mini-camp this weekend, getting their first look at their new rookie class in pads.

It will be the first look at these players in person for those of us in the media as well. That's why I'm looking forward to this mini-camp.

I'll begin to formulate the answers to some of my own questions about this team.

Can Santonio Holmes and/or Cedrick Wilson replace Antwaan Randle El?

Is Ryan Clark an adequate replacement at free safety for Chris Hope?

Who will step into Jerome Bettis' leadership role?

These are questions we'll find out the answers to over the coming months beginning this weekend.

Luck be a lady

Sorry I didn't post over the weekend, but the blog was down for some reason: again.

Anyway, I've been asked a thousand times if I was surprised the Steelers traded up in the first round of the draft. Not at all. In fact, in my final mock draft in this newspaper, I said the Giants were the Steelers' likely trade partners. I was surprised who they were able to get by trading up.

I figured Denver, New England or Philadelphia would take Santonio Holmes before the Steelers got a shot at him.

None did and the Steeler got the best wide receiver available.

Talk about your good luck.

Here's a list of the rookie free agents the team signed Monday:

Player Pos. Ht. Wt. College
1. Zach Baker S 6-2 212 East Carolina

2. Mark Brubaker K 6-0 189 East Stroudsburg State

3. Jonathan Dekker TE 6-5 250 Princeton

4. Nick Hagemann OT 6-7 295 South Dakota State

5. Mike Kudla LB 6-3 265 Ohio State

6. Jamar Landrom S 6-3 215 Tennessee State

7. Mike Lorello S 6-1 205 West Virginia

8. Grayling Love OG 6-3 296 Arizona State

9. Anthony Madison CB 5-9 180 Alabama

10. Scott Paxson DT 6-4 292 Penn State

11. Isaac Smolko TE 6-5 257 Penn State

12. Lee Vickers DE 6-6 270 North Alabama

And the pick was

I just finished up doing a draft on the radio with Adam Caplan of the NFL Network on Sirius Radio.

Interestingly enough, running back LenDale White of USC was still available, as was DeAngelo Williams of Memphis. If that's the case, the Steelers could get some interest from teams wanting to trade up.

But the Steelers like White and would consider trading up to get him or Donte Whitner.

If White fell to 32, they would be ecstatic.

You could then expect the team to trade up in Round 2 to grab a safety, either Daniel Bullocks or Darnell Bing. That would be an awesome first day for the defending Super Bowl champions.

No defensive end early

A number of mock drafts recently have had the Steelers selecting a defensive end in the first round of the draft, namely Rodrique Wright of Texas. It's not going to happen.

Follow the money folks.

The Steelers just re-signed Casey Hampton to a new deal before last season began and signed end Brett Keisel to a nice deal this offseason. Add to that Aaron Smith's hefty contract and you have three defensive linemen making a big buck.

Backups Chris Hoke and Travis Kirschke are also pulling down nice salaries.

If the Steelers add a defensive lineman, it won't be in the first half of the draft.

Safety first

The more I've looked at things, the more I think the Steelers will go with a safety in the first round of this year's draft.

Why? It's the safest thing to do and another safety will help out immediately in the team's nickel defense.

Even with the signing of Ryan Clark, the Steelers have just Troy Polamalu, Clark and Tyrone Carter on the roster to play that important position.

Adding a first-round talent at the position to pair with Polamalu for years to come would be the smart thing to do. And Kevin Colbert is nothing if not smart.

So who will the pick be?

I think if the Steelers had their druthers, it would be Donte Whitner of Ohio State.

If he's gone before they pick in the first round, Darnell Bing, Daniell Bullocks or Jason Allen will get a look.

I'm still not sold on Allen's health, but I would have no problem with Bing or Bullocks, two big, physical safeties to pair with Polamalu.

A late riser in the team's plans has been Ko Simpson of South Carolina, who was originally thought to be one of the top safeties available before his stock fell for some reason. Simpson is back on the Steelers' radar, though probably not as a first-round possibility.

The sleeper pick? Stanford linebacker John Alston, a 6-0, 227-pounder who runs a 4.4-second 40. Hmm. A Pac 10 linebacker turned safety in the second round. Carnell Lake anyone?

Broncos wheeling, dealing

The Denver Broncos as at it again trading first-round draft picks, this time dealing their extra choice in the first round to San Francisco, the third deal they've made with first-round picks in this draft.

The Niners acquired the 22nd overall selection in the draft from the Denver Broncos on Wednesday for picks in the second round and third round.

The Broncos will receive the 37th and 68th overall picks in the deal.

The Niners own the sixth overall pick in the draft as well as No. 22 in the first round.

Denver acquired the 22nd pick in a draft-day deal with Washington last year in which the Broncos gave up their first round pick for the Redskins' top pick this season.

Denver also made a trade earlier this spring with Atlanta and the Jets in which Atlanta received defensive end John Abraham and the Broncos moved up from the 29th pick to 15.

Denver, which lost to the Steelers in the AFC Championship, now owns seven picks in the first four rounds of the draft.

I'm back

Sorry to let the blog slip a little in the past week, but I had to take some time off for a birth in the family. But I'm back now and ready to rock and roll on this draft.

What have we learned in recent weeks?

A day after I wrote on this site that the Steelers would not be interested in safety Jason Allen from Tennessee, my good friend Rick Gosselein from the Dallas Morning News did his first mock of the year with the Steelers taking Allen in the first round.

I respect the heck out of Goose and his final mock, which will come out late next week, is one of the most accurate available. It also changes considerably.

I don't think Allen will be the pick and Gosselein will likely agree next week.

LenDale White was in Pittsburgh Monday taking a physical and meeting with the Steelers brass. Hopefully word will filter out about that meeting soon.

Allen wrenched

You can scratch safety Jason Allen off your list of potential Steelers draft picks.

Rumor has it the speedy Tennessee safety has been flunking phyicals around the league because of a degenerative condition in his hip. It's the same hip injury that forced him out of action last season.

Allen was a possibility for the Steelers in the first round before the physical problems.

We'll keep weeding through the information until the draft. Keep checking back.

LenDale White slipping

As we near the NFL draft, a number of mocks now have the Steelers getting USC running back LenDale White with the 32nd pick.

Don't believe it.

White was reportedly a huge disappointment at the USC pro day last month, acting standoffish with scouts and really not working out all that well. He was also overweight.

But a fall to the 32nd pick?

I'm not buying that. White won't last past the mid-teens. On-field production does mean something, after all.

Besides, if he was that big of an idiot, the Steelers wouldn't take him anyway,

What about later rounds?

OK, let's assume the first round of the draft goes as I've predicted.

Who will the Steelers then target in the second round?

If the Steelers go for a linebacker in the first round, the second round pick will almost certainly be a safety or wide receiver, with a trade up to get the player they like the most a possibility.

Darnell Bing, Daniel Bullocks or Jason Allen would be safety targets in the second round, though the Steelers would likely need to move up to get them.

If they stay where they're at, then things get a little more interesting. Ko Simpson seems to be falling, but whether he would fall to the end of the second round is unlikely.

Pat Watkins from Florida State is an interesting prospect at 6-4, 200 pounds. He had 10 interceptions playing free safety for the Seminoles over the past three seasons and also returned six kickoffs for touchdowns.

At wide receiver, the Steelers may take Brandon Williams of Wisconsin at the end of the round, rather than wait another round to take a receiver.

No 5-8 receivers

Mock draft after mock draft has the Steelers taking Miami of Florida wide receiver Sinorice Moss with their No. 1 pick in this month's draft.

Their reasoning? The Steelers need a slot receiver and punt returner to replace Antwaan Randle El, a void they believe Moss would fill.

But there's no way the Steelers will spend a No. 1 pick on a 5-8 receiver, having learned their lesson a few years back when they took Troy Edwards in the first round.

Now if Florida's Chad Jackson or Ohio State's Santonio Holmes fell to No. 32, that would be a different stoty. The Steelers would take either of those receivers in a heartbeat.

But unless the 5-8 guy happens to be Barry Sanders, he won't be taken by the Steelers in the first round. And Moss is certainly no Barry Sanders.

And finally

And here are the last 11.

Mind you, all of this will likely change within a week. Have to keep up with Mel Kiper Jr. after all.

22. Denver (from Washington), Gabe Watson, DT, Michigan. Can’t count on those former Browns forever.

23. Tampa Bay, Max Jean-Giles, G, Georgia. Have to open some holes for the Cadillac.

24. Cincinnati Bengals, Donte Whitner, S, Ohio State. The Bengals’ safeties were awful last season and signing Dexter Jackson doesn’t change that.

25. N.Y. Giants, DeMeco Ryans, LB, Alabama. Ryans is a little undersized, but plays non-stop.

26. Chicago, Sinorice Moss, WR, Miami. Spurned by Antwaan Randle El, the Bears grab Moss.

27. Carolina, DeAngelo Williams, RB, Memphis. DeShaun Foster is too brittle to count on every game.

28. Jacksonville, Manny Lawson, LB, N.C. State. The Jaguars hope Lawson is this year’s DeMarcus Ware.

29. N.Y. Jets (from Denver), Nick Mangold, C, Ohio State. After letting Kevin Mawae go, the Jets get a replacement.

30. Indianapolis, Laurence Maroney, RB, Minnesota. The Edge is gone.

31. Seattle Seahawks, Mathias Kiwanuka, DE, Boston College. Has talent, just needs consistency.

31. Steelers, Bobby Carpenter, LB, Ohio State. Joey Porter and James Farrior are getting up in age. Carpenter could play inside or outside.

The next 11

Here are the next 11 picks in my first mock.

11. St. Louis, Brodrick Bunkley, DT. Florida State. Another great offense that needs defensive stoppers.

12. Cleveland, Chad Greenway, OLB, Iowa. Sorry, I’m not buying that he’s slipping. Don’t forget the Phil Savage-Kirk Ferentz connection.

13. Baltimore, Tamba Hali, DE, Penn State. Ravens like high-motor defenders like Hali.

14. Philadelphia, Chad Jackson, WR, Florida. The TO experiment/debacle is over.

15. Denver (from Atlanta) Marcus McNeil, OT, Auburn. The Broncos need to get younger up front.

16. Miami, Jimmy Williams, DB, Va. Tech. Dolphins need secondary help.

17. Minnesota, Jay Cutler, QB, Vanderbilt. Vikings trade Culpepper, get their possible QB of the future.

18. Dallas, Ernie Sims, LB, Florida. Sims can play inside linebacker in the Cowboys’ 3-4.

19. San Diego, Santonio Holmes, WR, Ohio State. New QB Phillip Rivers needs all the targets he can get and Keenan McCardell isn’t getting any younger.

20. Kansas City, Tye Hill, CB, Clemson. Hill is a welcome addition to a horrid defense.

21. New England, Lendale White, RB, USC. Patriots luck out and get a power back to replce Corey Dillon.

Mocking it up

With April now nearly here, it's time to start thinking about mock drafts. Over the next couple of days, I'll be posting my first round, 10 or so picks at a time.

1. Houston, Reggie Bush, RB, USC. A no-brainer, really, unless they trade the pick.

2. New Orleans, Mario Williams, DE, North Carolin State. After signing Drew Brees, the Saints are primed to trade this pick to a team looking for a QB.

3. Tennessee, Vince Young, QB, Texas. Young is close with Steve McNair and is a similar quarterback.

4. New York Jets, Matt Leinart, QN, USC. It’s my belief that the Jets will want to trade up for Leinart. They may not have to.

5. Green Bay, A.J. Hawk, OLB, Ohio State. The Packers were awful on defense last year. Hawk is outstanding.

6. San Francisco, Michael Huff, DB, Texas. The 49ers wanted Hawk, but settle for Huff, who can play corner or safety.

7. Oakland, Vernon Davis, TE, Maryland. Davis was the workout star of the combine and can stretch the field.

8. Buffalo, D’Brickshaw Ferguson, OT, Virginia. This is a stroke of luck for Buffalo, which struck out with former top pick Mike Williams.

9. Detroit, Winston Justice, OT, USC. No wide receiver for the fourth year in a row.

10. Arizona, Haloti Ngata, DT, Oregon. Great offense needs defensive stoppers.

More ammunition

The two extra fourth round and one additional fifth round pick the Steelers collected Monday when the NFL announced its compensatory picks will come in handy for a team looking for an infusion of young talent.

The Steelers have drafted well under director of football operations Kevin Colbert, who's also shown no qualms about moving around to get the players he desires.

The team traded down in the first round in 2001 and up in the second to grab nose tackle Casey Hampton and linebacker Kendrell Bell.

A couple of years later, the team traded up in the first round for the first time in history to grab safety Troy Polamalu.

Bell is now gone, but Hampton and Polamalu are Pro Bowl players considered the best in the league at their positions.

By rule, teams can't trade compensatory picks. But if the Steelers are inclined to make a move in this year's draft, they now have the ammunition to do so without giving up the farm.

For example, they could deal their second round pick and their fourth to move up a dozeon or so spots in the second round if there is a player they want by don't feel will be there when they pick.

It would certainly make things easier to grab a guy such as linebacker Bobby Carpenter in the first round and trade up in the second to grab safety Darnell Bing.

That would be two quality players and the team would still own a third and two more fourths.

What Haynes means

The question has been posed what the Steelers will do in the draft if they re-sign running back Verron Haynes. Will they still look for a running back in the draft with starter Willie Parker, backup Duce Staley and third-down back Haynes on the roster?

Sure. Remember, they still have a running back spot open on the roster to take Jerome Bettis' spot. Head coach Bill Cowher has always carried at least five running backs.

Even with the aforementioned threesome and fullback Dan Kreider, the Steelers still have an open spot on the roster for a young back who will eventually replace Staley.

Who woulde fit that bill? How about Virginia running back Walli Lundi, who could be had in the third or fourth round?